EAC announces open house in regards to football program

By Lee Patterson

Eastern Arizona College President Todd Haynie has announced an Open House for December 6th at 5 pm in the Gerald L. Hoopes Activity Center at EAC regarding the future of football.

This won’t be a town hall. Instead it will be an open house with information booths on different aspects of EAC football. Information will likely include pros and cons of the program, and options available for the future. People are invited to gather information at these booths and ask questions individually and will be able to leave feedback on a comment card.

In a phone conversation with President Haynie, I asked about the future of football at Eastern Arizona College. His answer follows:

“As you know we have been handed this decision. This is not something that we came up with on our own or something we decided to just look at. With Maricopa County’s decision to drop their four programs(Mesa, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Glendale) and Pima College’s decision to drop their program we now have to decide how we move forward with our program. Should we keep it? If so, how does it work? How much does it cost and what is best for our students, the institution and the community.

“We are trying to look at this decision from every possible angle. It is a mulit-faceted decision. It affects many, many, many aspects of the college and the community. It affects our financial situation, enrollment, housing and food services. This is why it has taken us some time to sort through this. All while we are watching what is going on with the other schools like Arizona Western. We’ve been in contact, not only on the athletic level, but I have had conversations with their President as well. I think the last part of it is ‘what does the community think?’ That is reason for the Open House on December 6th – to get community feedback.”

President Haynie also said there is no time frame in place to have a decision made. “We want to gather information from the community and we will go from there.”

Haynie was selected to succeed Mark Bryce as President of Eastern Arizona College in October 2017.

Eastern Arizona will host Snow College Saturday at 7pm in the WSFL Championship game.